Hair Growth Update

Short post today just to document how much new hair growth I've got since I'm now at the 2 month mark. The two different textures are no fun, but I'm excited to be seeing some curl again!

2 months of growth

Curl Pattern Close-Up

And Tanika Ray= Hair Envy
*Drool*

Disclaimer: I do not own this image. 

First Bantu Knot Out Attempt

Because my hair is on a heat-free styling diet while I transition back to natural, I am having fun experimenting with different looks. This is my first ever attempt at bantu knots. I didn't wear them out, but put them in at night and took them down in the morning instead. .

First things first, I parted my hair (at this point, it was about 90% dry) into 16 sections.  Section by section I detangled my hair with the Olive Oil Root Stimulating Nourishing Spray and the Moisturizing Hair Lotion. Then, I started the bantu knots by making two-strand twists. Then I wrapped them around into the knots and secured them with bobby pins. (I made 1 or 2 bantu knots per section.) The sections I made weren't perfectly parted, but I didn't mind because my hair blended better when I took them down. When I wound them down to the bottom, I secured the knots with bobby pins and then I did some homework. ;)

 Here's what they looked like when they were finished:

The next step was to sleep on them...which really wasn't comfortable at all. Luckily, I had the knots in place for a couple of hours as I did my homework before bed. So, I figured I would take the bobby pins out to make it easier to sleep on. The knots stayed in place for the most part and the two-strand twists stayed completely together. When I took them out in the morning, I wasn't disappointed.

Don't ask me why I'm smiling at the floor in this one! Haha!

I like that I can get a curling-iron look without the heat damage.

Two ways to wear it:

Success? For a first attempt, yes. I still want to play with different techniques and sizes until I get a flawless finish. But for my very first try, I'm satisfied!

Braid Out!

I wore a pretty cute braid-out today. Here's how I did it:

Washed my hair in the morning. It was about 80% dry when I decided to put the braids in. Then I applied some Olive Oil Hair Moisturizing Lotion and Olive Oil Root Stimulator spray along with a spritz of water and combed it out.

I sectioned my hair into 3 different parts. I made one part that went from ear to ear and another that went right down the center of my head until it met the previous part. I didn't take the center part all the way down to the nape of my neck because I didn't think it would blend as well. So I ended up with one back section and two sections in the front on each side. Then I sectioned each section and began braiding:

I made around 16 braids all over my head:

I slept in them over night. (I need to go buy a silk head scarf to wrap my hair at night!)
In the morning I undid the braids and combed through them with my fingers. I sprayed more olive oil spray to hold them together and tousled my hair so it would fall the way I wanted it to.

Here are the results:

And I was ready to go! It was soft and shiny throughout the day. I was happy with the results.

I'm having trouble figuring out how to set the ends of my braids though. As of now, I'm using some Goody Girl hair ties and they aren't working the way I'd like them to...the texture of the braided hair clashes with the texture of the "banded" hair. Anyone out there have any suggestions? Thanks!

*Drum Roll* Please...It's My Debut Post

Hi all!

This is my very first post, so let me introduce myself.
My name is Vanessa. I'm a 21-year-old half black, half Mexican college student currently located in Southern California. I love to write, play volleyball and try my hand at photography in my spare time. 

I am currently on a journey to wean myself off of the "creamy crack" (aka hair relaxer) and get back in touch with my true roots! Ha! (Pun intended.) I got my first relaxer in the 8th grade, and my last one on August 25th, 2010. I'm so tired of paying to damage my hair. I'm ready to work with what God gave me and stop working against it. Kinky hair is beautiful and I wish I had never thought otherwise! I can't wait to get my natural curls back.

I'm excited to document my journey back to natural hair. I'll be transitioning, because I've never had drastically shorter hair than I have now, so I'm not willing to do the big chop at this point. I don't think I can rock a TWA anyway...my face doesn't seem to be the right shape. (I'm new to all of the lingo of the natural hair world too by the way.) Maybe someday, others can use my experience as a resource for their own journey. In the future, it will be fun to look back and see how far I've come. I also really just want to connect with other transitioners and natural hair divas out there to help make this journey easier!

So join me on my journey to going napptural! =]

-Vanessa